Here are 5 tips from someone who has been independent for 10 years.

Quick intro

I’ve been self-employed for 10 years now, when a vast majority of people throw the towels after 2 years. I actually know plenty of people who struggled enough to go bak to a 9 to 5. Thankfully, I didn’t follow any of their advice back then! I talked about this in a piece I called ‘Saving money isn’t enough‘. I should rename it because clearly I may be good at being independent but I’m not good at titles! And in my view, you will find there a goldmine of advises.

You can browse my “Money talk“ tag. There are quite a few detailed entries where I talk about being self employed. Including how I have tripled my income.

It doesn’t matter if you want to be an influencer, consultant, are just starting a side hustle or ultimately want to be an entrepreneur. In most cases, you’ll start your adventure alone, so all of these tips apply. Well, honestly, they do apply even if it’s not a solo adventure.

Here we go:

1- Be organised

Being organised and staying organised when under pressure are super important.

Whether you are starting a side business and already have a job, or your side business is picking up, being organised and staying organised will help you be more efficient, cope with the pressure, not miss deadlines, etc.

I’m not going to recommend a fancy App or a cute notebook to do so, because mostly you can probably achieve this, with what you have. What ever organisation tools you use or methodology you follow is not the point. Although the tools you use should not be so time consuming that you don’t do the important tasks.

I make to do lists on my phone and post it notes. I’m old school and I love the feeling when I vigorously cross a task handled! I also use a planner to organise meetings, trips, vacations and my admin days. I have Word templates for contracts, invoices, etc and Excel spreadsheets for time management, income, taxes, etc. Nothing fancy but it works.

2- Be professional

Being organised will help you greatly with this.

Being professional is about being reliable and trustworthy. It’s about providing your clients with your deliverable when promised. It’s about showing up when required.

It really all tights back to being honest and respectful. Respectful of your clients trusts and time.

This isn’t negotiable.

3 – Network strategically

As stated before I don’t network! Not in the regular sense of the term. So this may seems weird.

I do however have professional contacts, people with whom I have built a trust relationship. Because of the field I am with, these are mostly lawyers. In your field, it may be different.

Why is it important? Because if you make your clients happy, they want to keep you for themselves! They are probably not going to recommend you to their competitors.

But other people who gravitate around the same type of clients, may recommend you to others. In my case, and this is just an example, my client’s lawyer recommended me to another of their clients.

And this is what I mean by network strategically!

I have no time to network with a lot of different people. But I know that when companies are looking for the type of services I offer, they first ask their lawyers for recommendations. So I keep good relationships with such lawyers and this is what I mean by strategic networking!

4 – Always have an updated CV / portfolio on hand

Just like when you are job hunting, having a CV and/or a portfolio is important. Keep a template up to date. Refresh as needed, update so it is tailor-made for the client you are discussing with, keep track of what you sent to whom.

You may need this regularly, for different purposes. Even your existing clients may periodically need your CV to comply with various policies and internal controls.

Do yourself a favour and be organised with this too!

5 – Streamline your invoicing process

It is absolutely great to sign a contract. It feels even more amazing to send an invoice! But OMG, how glorious it is to get the notification from your banking App that it got paid!

Being efficient at invoicing your clients will mean something different to everyone. I can only say that you should invoice promptly, if you want to be paid promptly. It sets the tone.

On my side, I invoice my client quarterly or bi-annually. We have a long term relationship and this is what we have discussed and agreed.

I do not have an expensive invoicing software and I do not do it online for confidentiality reasons.

So how do I manage? I block time in my planner for such task and I just mail merge from Excel to Word and triple check all my invoices before emailing them as pdf.

In short

Being organised and professional encompass many aspects of what is required to be independent.

From keeping your clients happy, to getting recommendations and to invoicing promptly, it improve greatly your chances of success.

Stay tuned, I’ll be publishing next week, 5 more tips to improve your chances.